The American established its Ad Hoc Committee on Psychotherapy Associates one and a half years ago. Co-chaired by Laurel E. Nelson of Rockville, Md., and Gail Halem Trivedi, of Ann Arbor, Mich., the committee has been quite active, advising local psychoanalytic centers about allied organizations of psychotherapists and representing psychotherapists at the national level.
The committee currently has 20 members representing medicine, psychology, social work, marriage and family counseling, and nursing; it also includes graduate analysts and candidates. In collaboration with the Committee on Societies, the psychotherapy associates committee has identified psychoanalytic centers that have structures in place for incorporating psychotherapists.
The committee discovered that psychotherapists are currently associated with local institutes and societies across the country in a variety of ways, ranging from a study group for the graduates of the local psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program to full-fledged, autonomous organizations with nearly 500 members and including many disciplines. The committee organized a workshop, and in December 1997 four such groups reported on their developmental history and organizations.
The workshop generated a great deal of enthusiasm about the potential of associate groups throughout the country. Each group's report contributed to an appreciation of the rich diversity of experience and endorsed the importance of psychoanalytic understanding. The development of allied organizations leads to multifaceted relationships with the societies and the greater mental health communities, which reflects specific interests and concerns and enhances the local psychoanalytic center.
Michigan's Association for Psychoanalytic Thought (APT), formerly the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, provides a model for this committee's work. Membership in this autonomous, non-profit, affiliate organization of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Society is open to individuals from all mental health disciplines as well as to academics and professionally interested community members. At present, Michigan's APT has close to 300 dues-paying members and is financially and organizationally independent. The APT has its own set of elected officers and its own by-laws. Further, the group contributes to the psychoanalytic community through its exciting, well-thought-out, and well-attended programs. The Michigan APT publishes a yearly directory of members and has evolved into a well-respected group in the state.
The APTs current relationship to the Michigan society and institute extends to representation on society, institute, and foundation committees. There are APT representatives on committees dealing with the extension division, library, newsletter, publicity, capital campaign, liaison, finance, and programs for the society. APT members contributed to the capital campaign drive and make yearly contributions through the foundation.
Michigan's APT is very active in programs co-sponsored with the Michigan society, institute, and foundation, related to the arts and humanities as well as to applied psychoanalysis. Initially, there were one or two programs a year, often local analysts presentations on a clinical topic. Currently, there are as many as 10 programs per year. The APT sponsors a popular film series and programs on applied psychoanalysis featuring speakers of local, national, and international prominence.
In addition to films and clinical presentations, the APT sponsors arts programs, like a recent concert in which pianist Louis Nagel performed works of Mozart, followed by a discussion of psychoanalytic perspectives on both Mozart and the task of performing music. Clinical programs co-sponsored with the society have included “The Research and Science of Psychoanalysis: A Dialogue” and a symposium “On the Usefulness of the Psychoanalytic Perspective in Managed Care.” Another aspect of effort is the outreach of the APT's Liaison Committee to the Black Community, which sponsored “An Evening at The Theater” at the Detroit Museum of African-American History. With such dynamic programs, membership in the APT continues to expand. Members are offered preferential admission to programs, advance notice of special events, use of the library, and a subscription to the newsletter of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Center.
Following the Michigan model, the Baltimore-Washington APT was established in 1995. The initiative for this allied organization came from a concerned psychoanalyst, Rod Drake. Learning of the achievements of Michigan's APT and being cognizant of a need in his own community, Drake helped his society consider founding an organization locally. Contacting a few interested graduates of the institute's Psychotherapy Training Program, Drake nurtured a core group which eventually coalesced as the Baltimore-Washington APT.
Benefiting greatly from both experiential knowledge and technical assistance from Gail Trivedi, the new organization began with the society's endorsement. The group is an affiliate of the society rather than a group of affiliate members of the society. The current membership comprises predominantly graduates of the psychotherapy training courses and graduate analysts. Like the Michigan APT, the Baltimore-Washington group is interested in programs that look both at understanding the arts and humanities from a psychoanalytic perspective and at applied clinical programs.
The group has sponsored three stimulating and contemporary programs to date. The first was “Passion Twice Transformed: The Art and Life of Edvard Munch,” which looked at the work of two local analysts with special interest in the artist's work. The second program addressed creativity — “The Creative Eye: A Psychoanalyst Looks at Her Life as Photographer.” A recent program was the sponsoring of a community theater presentation of Love Letters, followed by a sensitive discussion by a senior analyst.
Philadelphia's Alliance for Psychoanalytic Thought was established in 1996. After consulting with Gail Trivedi and Laurel Nelson, Miriam Field, a senior candidate, mailed out an interest questionnaire to Psychotherapy Training Program graduates and attendees of the yearly Margaret Mahler Symposium. Those who responded joined with Field and other analysts to develop a variety of programs.
Within the last two years, the organization has became formalized, with the endorsement of the local society and institute. Philadelphia APT committees sponsor a variety of noteworthy programs through the development of forums: South Asia, Latino, Child and the Law Study Group, Day Care Consulting, Sexuality and Gender, Psychoanalysis and the Humanities, and Geriatrics.
Concetta F. Alfano, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., is a recent graduate of the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute and is director of its Psychoanalytic Clinic. She was an assistant instructor in the Psychoanalytic Training Program and is on the faculty of the Advanced Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program.
Like the other APTs, the Philadelphia group describes itself as an organization
interested in psychoanalysis as a theory of personality and character, as a method of treatment, and as a research methodology. We believe that the psychoanalytic perspective is a meaningful vehicle for understanding art, literature, politics, child-rearing, and other aspects of work, play, and relationships.
In contrast, there is the model of the Friends of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute (SFPI) and Society, which is an independent organization not formally affiliated with either institute or society. As such, it is an autonomous body, maintaining its own non-profit status and an ongoing relationship with the SFPI. It is a very active, interdisciplinary group with 477 members interested in like pursuits.
The Friends was founded in 1976 with the goal of “presenting lectures and seminars to those interested in psychoanalytic ideas.” Its current president, Kavoos Bassiri, presented a sampling of the group's diverse and innovative programs at The American's December workshop. The Friends' presentations have included “The Mind in The Internet: An Exploration of the Human-Computer Relationship,” “The Psychoanalytic Perspective on AIDS,” and “New Perspectives on Menopause.” They group also presents “Informal Conversations” between analysts and Friends members. “A Look at the Crime of the Century,” “Psychoanalytic Perspectives of Mastery Through Art,” and “Characterological Analysis: The Case of Elvis Presley” are some recent topics. The Friends also publish their own journal, Dialogue: A Journal of Psychoanalytic Perspectives.
The December workshop was very well received and generated many inquiries about such groups. At the spring meeting in Toronto, there will be time set aside to meet with representatives who are in the process of starting allied groups. Trivedi and Nelson are available to share the models of the Michigan APT and Baltimore-Washington APT, respectively, as well as copies of by-laws, programming, and organizational experiences.
At present, the Ad Hoc Committee on Psychotherapy Associates is aware of seven communities in the process of establishing some formal organization for psychotherapists.
This committee continues to promote its dual mandate. At the local level, it assists societies in developing allied organizations for interested clinicians. At the national level, it represents psychoanalytically informed and involved psychotherapists who are interested in a formal association with The American. To this end, the committee has initiated a Psychotherapist Database for psychotherapists licensed by their state who are interested in receiving pertinent mailings from The American and reduced rates for TAP and JAPA. This database is specifically for clinicians, who are neither candidates nor students. The committee already has almost 500 psychotherapists on the database; at some point, it hopes to publish a national directory.